The Exporters and Investors Club celebrates 25 years of activity and faces new challenges to continue offering support for the internationalisation of Spanish companies

The Exporters and Investors Club celebrated its 25th anniversary at an event that brought together more than 150 representatives from the business, economic and institutional world at the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid. 

During the event, held with the support of Banco Santander and Aon, the President of the Spanish Exporters and Investors Club, Antonio Bonet Madurga, the Dean of the Cambridge Judge Business School, Mauro Guillén, who gave the keynote speech entitled "The new international business scenario", and the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, who closed the event, all took part. 

In his speech, the President of the Spanish Exporters and Investors Club, Antonio Bonet, outlined the origins of the institution, which was founded in 1997 "with the aim of improving the regulatory environment, supporting internationalisation and facilitating networking and the exchange of experiences between exporting companies", and had words of recognition and gratitude for its founder and current Honorary President, Balbino Prieto. 

Antonio Bonet also recalled the transformation that the Spanish foreign sector has undergone in the last quarter of a century, going from representing 23% of GDP in 1997 to 35% today. Likewise, the stock of Spanish investment abroad has increased tenfold in this period, reaching almost 500,000 million euros, making Spain one of the countries in the world with the most direct investment abroad.

Will the foreign sector continue to be the engine of growth?

The President of the Exporters' Club underlined the fundamental role that exports of goods and services have historically played in overcoming economic crises, and pointed out that "the question we are all asking ourselves today is whether the foreign sector will continue to be the engine of growth in Spain". 

In his opinion, we have, as a fundamental condition, companies with a vocation for internationalisation and permanence in the markets. "They have already demonstrated this in recent years and continue to do so despite the difficult situation created by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, but we need many more. In Spain there are only 59,000 companies that export regularly and of these only 25,000 sell more than 50,000 euros a year abroad," he said. 

For this reason, he considered it essential to have a regulatory environment and economic policies that facilitate the international competitiveness of our companies. "Today we are losing competitiveness, not only because inflation is higher than that of our main competitors, but also because the high deficit and public debt that we are suffering are forcing us to raise taxes, unless public spending and pensions are drastically rationalised," he said. 

For Antonio Bonet, the third condition for the foreign sector to contribute effectively to the recovery is to have efficient policies to support internationalisation. "It is not just a question of budgetary differences with other similar instruments in competitor countries, but also of agility in the management of some of them". He also stressed that "companies are aware of the efforts being made by the Administration in the difficult circumstances caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine".

Internally, he explained that the Exporters' Club is currently facing a process of transformation and adaptation to the new technological and geostrategic paradigm. "We will have to be very attentive to changes in trends, markets and ways of doing business and we will have to adapt to them. Our objective is that over the next 25 years our partners, public administrations and society as a whole will continue to consider us a benchmark for the internationalisation of our companies", he concluded. 

The new international scenario 

In his speech, Professor Mauro Guillén outlined the new international scenario in which Spanish companies will have to compete in the future, marked by several trends that are making rapid headway, such as a new map of industrial boundaries, changes in the supply chain, the advance of automation at all levels, the proliferation of remote work and demographic changes that are redrawing new fields of opportunity for business. 

"If for 300 years we have defined industrial sectors in terms of products and services, the boundaries are now more porous due to the complexity of economic activity", explained Professor Guillén, who added that "we are also witnessing a reorganisation of the supply chain that has evolved from just in time to just in case, which will imply a diversification of product origins and will make companies face higher levels of inventories". 

In his opinion, another of the features of the new scenario facing companies is the globalisation of talent as a result of technological development. Likewise, a declining birth rate and longer life expectancy will lead to a redefinition of market segments and the end of age as a concept, which will have important consequences for companies' product and service strategies. 

The conference was brought to a close by Xiana Méndez, Secretary of State for Trade, who pointed out the importance of internationalisation for the economy and for companies: "There are many ways of being competitive but, without a doubt, for many Spanish companies, success and competitiveness is achieved by growing abroad", she said.

Méndez underlined the importance of the Exporters' Club as an "essential ally" for the Secretary of State for Trade due to its role in "promoting and improving the competitiveness of companies abroad", as well as its capacity to "identify opportunities for Spanish companies". Likewise, the Secretary of State for Trade recalled the "fundamental" role of the foreign sector in the 2008 crisis, and predicted that "in the coming years, due to its resilience, it will once again be key for our country".

About the Spanish Exporters and Investors Club

The Spanish Exporters and Investors Club is a multi-sector business association whose objective is to represent and defend the interests of Spanish companies with international activity. The worldwide turnover of the Club's members is equivalent to 20% of Spain's GDP. They have around 800,000 employees and their investments abroad represent 40% of Spanish investment stock abroad.